Wolfgirl
by alecygoodness22
Summary: What if Bella had a half-brother, stayed in a little better touch with her rez friends over the years, and wasn't quite wolf, but wasn't quite plain Jane either. Come read and find out... Little bit better summary inside. Involves a slightly OOC Bella and some Cullen bashing. More detail inside. Will eventually be Paul/Bella.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So this is my first venture at writing twilight fan fiction. Let me start by saying that I am a wolfgirl at heart and won't always be Cullen friendly. That being said, this will be a Paul/Bella story eventually and Bella will be a little OOC. This first chapter is just a little back story on my version of Bella and her friends/family. There will be some original characters along the way, although only 1 or 2 will play any major part. This story has been batting around in my head for almost a year now, so I figure it's time I got the beast off my back. Please review, if you have any questions or something you'd like to see, I'll do my best to answer you and work things in. Constructive criticism is always welcome, though if your only comment is that you hate it and think it's a piece of garbage, please keep that to yourself. Now, on to the story...

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own any of Stephanie Meyer's characters, (although I wouldn't mind borrowing a few.) If you want to sue, all I have is a ton of debt and 3 dogs.

My name is Isabella Swan, I usually go by Bella or Bells with my close friends and family, or Izzy with most my friends from school. My half-brother Noah Uley and I are getting ready to leave Phoenix and move back to Forks to live with my Dad, Charlie Swan. Our mom Renee, was once upon a time, in love with a married Quileute man named Joshua Uley. They had an affair and as soon as Joshua found out she was pregnant, he dropped her like hot cakes, I mean his wife Allison had just given birth to their son Sam, and so another bastard kid was not an option. Luckily my dad Charlie was one of his best friends, and had been in love with Renee for years. He offered to marry mom and help raise Noah since her family disowned her the minute they found out. They had been friends their whole lives and mom did love him, though not the way she should've to marry him, but she hoped with time that kind of love would grow. Even though Joshua was listed as Noah's dad on his birth certificate, Charlie was the only father he knew growing up. Mom and dad were happy for a few years, (I mean hello, I'm only 10 months younger than Noah, even if I was a preemie.) About a year and a half after I was born, Joshua took off in the middle of the night and was never heard from again, leaving his wife and three year old son Sam to fend for themselves.

I was five and Noah was six when mom and dad started to fall apart. Mom had always wanted to travel the world and get out of Washington, but dad was happy with the life they had and had just been promoted to deputy chief at the Sheriff's office. I had just turned 4 when mom decided to pack up all of our stuff. Noah was at his brother Sam's house on the reservation in La Push. When his mom called to ask if Noah could spend the night, I answered crying because mommy was packing all of our clothes in suitcases and said we needed to leave before Daddy got home. Mom came to the phone and Sam's mom Allison begged mom not to do to dad, what Joshua had done to her. She started crying, but finally agreed. When dad came home, she was sitting at the table with a suitcase still next to her. She told him she wanted a divorce.

We stayed living with dad until the end of the next summer, right before I turned 6. We spent most of the summer on the reservation, since that's where all of our friends lived. I was devastated when we left. Mom moved us to Tacoma, which wasn't so bad and for the next two years we still got to visit dad and our friends every other weekend and longer during the summer. At school I became best friends with a boy named Paul that was a year younger than me. His grandma also lived in La Push, so we started taking him with us and introducing him to our friends. His mom and ours were pretty much best friends too. They both worked at one of the diners in town. Mom worked the morning shift, and would drop us off at Paul's every morning so his mom could take us to school. Then our mom would pick us all up in the afternoon and we'd play until his dad came to pick him up.

One day, his dad didn't show up to get him at 6 like he usually did. Mom made us all some mac and cheese and said not to worry. By 8 o'clock, he still hadn't shown up and mom was starting to worry. She tried calling his house and cell phone, but he wasn't answering and no one was picking up at the diner either. Finally at 9, she told us to go get in the car and drove up to the diner. There were 3 or 4 police cars when we got there and yellow tape wrapped around the building. Mom told us all to stay in the car while she got out to talk to one of the officers. It turns out that someone had come in trying to rob the diner around 5:30. One of the robbers saw Elena trying to call her husband on her cell phone and shot her. They didn't know the call had already gone through and Mark could hear everything. He immediately called the police from his work phone and told them what he heard. By the time the police arrived, Elena had already passed out from the blood loss. They took her to the hospital and tried to save her, but too much damage had been done and she had lost too much blood.

Paul stayed with us for about a week before Mark came to pick him up. Mom got into an argument with him cause he was drunk when he showed up. She told him he needed to sober up for his son and not to come back til he did. Paul lived with us for another 2 weeks before school let out for the summer. Mom didn't know what to do about Paul since Mark disappeared. Mom had tried calling him & the one time she went by the house it looked deserted, so she finally called his grandmother and she agreed that he should come live with her until Mark got his act together. We made our friends promise to look out for him.

By the end of that summer mom decided that we needed to get away from Tacoma too, so this time we moved to California, then Texas, Missouri for a while, then Kansas and Oklahoma. We still visited Charlie and our friends for Thanksgiving, the week after Christmas, and our summer breaks. When Noah started high school, we had just moved to Phoenix. He decided to go to football camp for the summer instead of back to Forks. I was only 13 and mom didn't want me flying by myself, so I didn't get to go either. Sam came and stayed with us for 2 weeks instead.

The next year, I started high school and mom was dating Phil. He was a minor league baseball player she had met at the yoga studio she was working at. He was a lot younger than mom and his younger sister Quinn was in my grade. She seemed pretty nice, and I let her talk me into trying out for the cheerleading squad the next year, so she took me to cheerleading camp with her. When Noah and I got home two weeks before the end of summer, we found out that mom and Phil had gotten married. We called dad and told him that we were moving into our new house instead of coming to visit. He seemed bummed out, but promised to come visit us the first chance he got. He had just been made Chief of Police and was trying to clean up some messes that had been left behind when the old chief retired.

Dad never got to come visit. I tried to make sure I skyped with he and Sam once a week. All of our friends would usually be a Sam's so we could say hi to everyone. As tends to happen with teenagers though, we all started to get busy and the calls came fewer and farther between until they just stopped all together.

Now Phil had been traded to Jacksonville, and mom wanted to travel on the road with him, so Noah and I were moving back to Dad's house for the last half of his senior year and my junior year. I hadn't talked to Sam or Paul in months, but I had talked to Leah last night and she told me not to take it personally. That Sam had been acting like an ass for the last six months. Evidently he just disappeared for 2 months over the summer, then came back and broke up with her over the phone, said it wasn't safe for them to be together. Needless to say, she was furious, they had even talked about getting married when she graduated and then, BAM.

Then about a month ago, Paul had stopped hanging out with all of them and developed a really bad temper. He and Sam were always together now. She said they were both huge now, and looked like they were on steroids or something. Worst of all, her dad Harry seemed to know something about it, but wouldn't tell her anything. She said now Jared had bulked up overnight and she was expecting him to be the next member of Sam's little gang.

I wasn't sure what was going on with our friends, but I was determined to figure it out when I got back to Forks. Dad said that Billy was planning to throw us a welcome back bonfire down at first beach and I was excited. The bonfires were my favorite. We would all eat and huddle up around the fire and listen to Billy and Uncle Quil tell the old legends of the tribe. Noah though it was all a bunch of crap, but I loved to think that there were spirit wolves protecting us.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: First of all, let me just start by saying thank you to everyone who faved and followed, and especially to those of you that left reviews. I had a crap day at work yesterday, but it perked me right back up when I saw my inbox overflowing with story alerts and reviews, so thank you all for making my day. Here is chapter 2, but don't get too excited cause I probably won't have chapter 3 until next week. My hubby works out of state during the week and is only home on weekends, so I usually don't have time to write then. Just so everyone will be on the same page, I've included the ages of the usual suspects. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: As usual, I still don't own them, they're just fun to play with…

Ages at present: Sam & Emily- 20, Rachel & Rebecca- 19, Leah & Noah- 18, Bella, Jessica & Angela- 17, Jared & Paul- 16, Jake, Embry & Quil- 15, Seth-14, Colin & Brady- 13

(BPOV)

"Hey Bells, is this the last box?" my brother Noah yelled up the stairs.

"No, I have one more up here. I'm just sealing it up now," I yelled back. He and our step-dad Phil have been loading all of our stuff in a U-haul for the 2 hours now. I can't believe mom & Phil had gotten him a brand new truck for an "early graduation" present, but I was glad we were driving back to Forks instead of flying. It would give us some bonding time before we got there since Noah's always busy with football, and baseball. Don't get me wrong, I was usually busy with volleyball or my friends, but it's nice that we're getting a chance to reconnect before we get to Dad's house.

I heard footstep on the stairs and turned to my door seeing Noah walk in. "Exactly how long does it take you to tape up a box? I've been waiting downstairs for the last 15 minutes and finally decided to come check on you."

I blushed and handed him the box, "Sorry, I guess I must've spaced out. I was just thinking about our trip and how good it's gonna be to catch up a little before we get there. I'm excited to see all of our friends too, but a little worried about Sam and Paul."

He took the box from me and headed back down the stairs with me following behind, "What are you worried about Sam and Paul for? They seemed fine when I talked to them the other day."

I followed him to the back of the truck as he put the last box in, "When did you talk to them? Leah told me they quit talking to everybody. Of course I didn't believe that, so I tried calling them too. I must've called them both at least a half dozen times in the last 2 weeks. When I couldn't get a hold of them, I tried everybody else; Quil, Jake, and Embry all said the same thing. The only other one I couldn't get a hold of was Jared, but Leah said that didn't surprise her either cause over the last week he's been hanging out with Sam and Paul."

Noah just shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, I think it was either Thursday or Friday last week. I called Sam, his new girlfriend Emily answered the phone and passed it to him. We talked for 10 or 15 minutes, then I heard Paul come in and he passed the phone to him. We talk for a few minutes, he gave the phone back to Sam, we talked for a few more minutes, then we hung up. They both seemed fine to me."

"Hmphf, I see how it is…"

Noah just chuckled and ruffled my hair before heading back in the house. We were leaving in the morning and taking 3 days to drive up to Forks. If I had it my way we'd just be driving straight through, it's only a 27 hour drive, but no… Mom said she wanted us to take our time, do a little sightseeing in California on the way. She wanted us to take a week, we finally compromised on 3 days, though secretly I think Noah and I were planning on making it 2. I like Phoenix and the friends I had made here, but there was just something about Forks, and I couldn't wait to be home.

***time skip***

We had finally turned off I-5 about 45 minutes ago and were just coming into Aberdeen and getting ready to head North on 101, the final stretch. We had about 100 miles left, but I was already bouncing in my seat. Noah laughed as he looked over at me, "Are you really that excited already, or do you just have to pee?"

I leaned across the console and smacked his arm with a scowl on my face. "I'm excited you ass, we only have about 100 miles to go. Although now that you mention it, I do have to pee, and I'm kind of hungry."

He just shook his head and laughed again, "I'm hungry too. We can stop at McDonald's up here and get a snack, but I don't wanna eat too much, cause you know dad will want to take us out to dinner or something when we get there."

I quickly agreed and 20 minutes later we were back on the road again. We had only made it a few miles down the road when my cell started ringing. "Hey Leelee, what's up?"

"What time do you think you guys are gonna be here? Seth and I wanted to come see you guys and I know Charlie already said Billy and the boys were coming over tonight."

"Wow, I didn't know everybody was coming over tonight, but that's great. We should be there in maybe an hour and a half or so. We just left Aberdeen about 20 minutes ago."

"Awesome, I'll tell Billy & let Charlie know to go ahead and order some pizzas in about an hour."

"Thanks Lee, see you soon!"

"Later chick"

I smiled at Noah as I hung up the call and held it across the console to him. He looked between it and the road a couple of times before taking it from me. "I take it you want me to call the rest of the guys and see if they'll come too?"

"Yes please."

He tried both Sam and Paul, but neither one of them answered, so he put the phone down next to his in the other cup holder. A few minutes later, a stoke of genius hit me and I snatched his phone up. I opened up a new group text to Sam, Paul, and Jared.

'_hey guys be there in 90 pizza at the house'_

Noah rolled his eyes, "You know that they're gonna know it's you and not me right?"

'_sure'_ was the first response from Sam

'_see ya in 90'_ was the next response from Paul.

I smirked at him triumphantly as the next one came through from Jared _'all you had to say was pizza dude, I'm there'_

I handed him his phone back, "You were saying?"

He just rolled his eyes and set the phone back down.

A little over an hour later we were pulling onto our street. I could see dad's cruiser and Billy's truck in the driveway and what I assumed was Leah's car at the curb. Noah parked the truck behind her car and blew the horn to catch their attention. Leah threw the front door open and they all piled out of the house onto the front lawn as I leapt out of the truck onto the street, careful not to bust my ass since it was slicked over with ice. She was the first to grab me, followed by Jake, Seth, Embry and Quil. I leaned down and hugged Billy before making my way over to my dad. He picked me up and spun me in a circle before putting me back on my feet.

"Missed you dad," I said giving him a hard squeeze.

"Missed you too kiddo," he responded with a little sniffle.

I heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Sam standing next to Noah. I squealed and ran to hug him too. He kissed the top of my head and mumbled out an apology for not calling me back. I was just about to chastise him when someone spoke behind me.

"What Swan, no hug for me?"

I didn't recognize the voice at first, and when I turned around, I'm sure my eyes practically popped out of my head. He was massive. His jeans were stretched over muscular legs, he was wearing a wife beater that looked like it had been molded to his eight pack, and his long flannel shirt he had on over top was unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off his gloriously muscular tan arms. I was sure I was drooling, and I hadn't even made it to his face yet.

"You want to stop ogling my little sister Lahote?" Noah called from next to me.

My eyes snapped to Noah and back to the god in front of me, this was Paul?! He took a few steps toward us. "I will when she does."

I didn't even have time to blush at being caught before I was being engulfed in a bear hug. I buried my head in his chest and closed my eyes as he held me close and buried his face in my hair, taking a deep breath. "Welcome home Bells," I heard him murmur as I hugged him a little tighter. When he finally pulled back I missed his warmth.

I smiled at all our friends and family, "It's good to be home."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you all for following, favoriting, and especially the few that took time to leave reviews. I appreciate you all. Sorry this has taken so long for me to update, real life has been kicking my butt with 12hr shifts at work. Just to give everyone a rough idea, I will try to update once a week unless I get some extra time. Thanks again and happy reading!

Disclaimer: What I wouldn't give to call the pack mine… Sadly, they are not, so I'm just left with my dirty thoughts and cursing Stephanie Meyer for letting Sparkles win…

We all moved to the back yard when the pizza guy came. I'm sure we were making quite the spectacle on the front lawn. When we turned the corner of the house, I could see dad had purchased a few of the steel heat umbrellas that run propane. I was wondering on how he planned for us all not to freeze outside. I thought he was crazy for buying so many pizzas too, but as Leah and I watched, Sam and Paul polished off two a piece while Noah, Jake, Embry and Quil each had one. Dad and Billy were sharing, as were Leah and I. It looked like we were still going to have plenty left over. Seth hadn't eaten quite a whole one by himself and there were still 2 full boxes.

I had just finished my third slice when I saw Sam heading our way. He avoided eye contact with Leah and gave me a small smile. "Sorry Bells, Paul and I need to get back to the Rez for our patrol shift, Jared can't leave until we get there."

I stood up and gave him another hug. "Patrolling the Rez, did you guys start a community watch or something? Do you need dad to go with you?"

He chuckled as he pulled back and neither of us missed the scowl on Lee's face. She made a loud production of taking the last slice out of the pizza box and getting up to throw it away. Sam just rolled his eyes, "Yeah, it's just me, Paul and Jared. We do a perimeter check around the Rez a few times a day. We've had a problem with some kids doing drugs, hikers going missing, and animal sightings. Something has got the forests around here stirred up. Charlie's been getting calls at the station here in Forks too."

"What are hikers even doing in the woods this time of year? It's below freezing! I thought dad was crazy when he said he wanted to eat outside until I saw all the heaters. I can't imagine anyone wanting to hike in the snow and ice."

"You'd be surprised what you'd find in the forest," he said cryptically before walking back towards his truck.

I frowned as I watched him go and ran smack into Paul's chest as I turned around. Holy crap was he built! I used to love ogling all of Noah's football friends, but he had them beat hands down. I didn't realize I was still staring at his chest until he laughed. "If you wanted to check out the merchandise, you should've just said so Bells."

I was sure that my face was the same color as the pepperoni I had just eaten on my pizza as I stammered out, "Oh shut up Lahote. It's not my fault you've grown a foot and filled out in all the right places since the last time I saw you. That tends to make people stare."

He just chuckled and winked at me before leaning down, his lips just brushing the shell of my ear, "Don't worry Swan, you've filled out in all the right places too."

I sucked in a breath and watched as he disappeared around the side of the house. Fifteen minutes later Jared showed up. He stopped at the edge of the yard and clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "Oh I see how it is, y'all just start without me. I hope you guys had the decency to at least save me some pizza."

I waved him over to me and gave him a big hug before passing him the two full pizzas. His eyes lit up like Christmas morning. "For me? Bells you shouldn't have, but since you did, it would be rude of me not to eat them."

Leah and I laughed as we watched him suck down both whole pizzas before scarfing down the last two slices of Seth's. "Well damn Jare, where's the fire? I'm surprised you didn't choke! Are you secretly training to be in some food eating contest or something?"

He hung his head and actually looked a little sheepish. "Sorry Bells, I didn't mean to just wolf it all down like that. I guess I'm just used to eating with the guys. If you're the last one with food on your plate with them, they keep eying your plate and trying to steal what's left."

I just laughed and ruffled his hair, "Poor Jare bear."

He groaned and bang his head on the table, "And please, I'm begging you, please don't let the guys hear you call me that."

"No problem Jare bear," Quil called out in a horribly fake falsetto.

"It'll be our little secret Jare bear," Jake joined in.

Jared banged his head on the table again and groaned. Leah couldn't help but put her two cents in. "Sorry Jare bear, my guess is, by lunch tomorrow, the whole Rez is using your new nickname."

"Great," he mumbled lifting his head up. "So Bells, are you ready for the welcome home / New Year's bonfire?"

"Are you kidding man, that's all she could talk about the whole way here. How she can't wait to bundle up next to the fire and listen to Billy tell all the old legends, which I'm pretty sure she has memorized word for word," Noah said plopping down next to Leah.

Jared gave a nervous half laugh, "The legends huh? Do you have a favorite one?"

"I'm not sure, there are so many, and I love them all, but if I had to choose, I guess either the creation legend or the legends of the protectors. Some of them, like the legend of the third wife, are so sad, but beautiful."

Jared cleared his throat uncomfortably and got up, "Well uh, I should probably go… I uh, don't want to leave Sam and Paul alone too long. They butt heads a lot. Thanks for the dinner Bells. I'll uh, I'll see ya around ok? Bye!"

Noah quirked an eyebrow at the girls before getting up and going to rejoin Jake, Quil, Embry, and Seth at their table, and Bella turned to Leah, "What the hell was that all about?"

Leah just shrugged her shoulders, "I have no idea. I told you they'd all been acting weird as hell. I'm surprised they showed up at all to be honest. That's the longest I've seen them in public. I never see them off the Rez anymore. I'm not sure I buy Sam's 'patrol' thing either. He won't even look me in the eye when he does talks to me, it's infuriating."

"I'm sorry Lee. Maybe they'll start coming around more now that we're back. I mean who can resist my adorable face…" Bella joked with her most innocent look on her face. It had the desired effect; Leah threw her head back and let out a full belly laugh. "Oh Swan, I have missed you. Who knows, maybe you're right. Maybe you're the glue that's been missing. We'll just have to wait and see."

Bella smiled and slung her arm around Leah's shoulder, "I know I'm right. Just wait until the New Year's bon fire, they're gonna hang out with us and they're gonna like it damn it."

"Have I mentioned how much I love this new, feistier, you?" Leah laughed as they both got up an made their way towards the guy's table.

"So Bells, are you gonna bring some cookies to the bonfire? I mean it just wouldn't be a proper bonfire without your peanut butter chocolate chip cookies."

"You mean that's what's been wrong all this time Quil? Oh, and make some of the chocolate chip oatmeal raisin ones too," Jake added.

Bella just shook her head and chuckled as she sat down. "Don't worry boys, I'll make plenty. Maybe some white chocolate macadamia nut ones too," she said with a wink at Billy. "I knew you knew the way to this old man's heart," he joked.

Charlie laughed, "Heart? You must be getting old, I'm pretty sure the only place they'll be going is straight to your stomach."

"Speaking of straight to the stomach, how about some of those lemon bars you sent me last summer?" Leah asked.

"Only if you're gonna help me make all this," Bella laughed.

That made all of the boys groan, "Bells, I know you've been gone for a while, so you don't realize what a huge mistake you just made, but trust me, Leah and any kitchen are a bad combination. I would hate for you to make all of those treats and have it all go to waste cause she burned it, or put too much sugar, or not enough flour. I'm telling you, my sister and anything in a kitchen do not mix," Seth pleaded.

Leah tried to pout, but couldn't help it and ended up laughing, "He's right. You know I've never been great at following direction, not to mention I have zero patience. The couple of times I tried to cook for Sam I'm pretty sure I gave him food poisoning. Cooking has always been more of Emily's thing, which is probably why she's with him now."

Bella's eyes got huge, "You're kidding me! He dumped you and now he's with your cousin?! What the hell?" Everyone got quiet and looked around the back yard uncomfortably. She stared at them all incredulously until Leah finally cleared her throat and spoke up. "Don't make a big deal out of it. It's over and done with."

Bella continued to just stare at her until Embry broke the silence. "If you really want some help Bells, I can bring my girlfriend Angela over. She likes cooking, and you'll be going to school with her, she's a junior too."

A smile broke out on her face as she turned to him, "Awe, Em, I didn't know you had a girlfriend. Sure bring her by on Thursday. I'm guessing we'll need at least 4 or 5 hours for everything to bake and cool before we leave for the bonfire, so make sure you're here by noon and I'll order us some Chinese food."

"Cool, I'll call her when I get home and let her know. She's excited to meet you. You're kind of all we've been talking about for the last month," he said sheepishly motioning to Jake and Quil.

"Well good, I can't wait to meet her too. Now I'm really excited. Noah, I'm gonna need you to take me to the grocery store or let me borrow your truck so I can go and stock up tomorrow." He groaned and banged his head on the table, "Can't somebody else take you? I was gonna go over to the Rez tomorrow and play xbox with the guys." He looked beseechingly at Leah.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh fine, I guess since I can't help you bake, I can at least help you shop. Just drop her off at my place when you get to the Rez. We'll try to find everything we need at Quil's mom's place. I hate going to the bigger store in Forks and having to stand there and wait in line forever."

Bella grinned and gave her a hug, "Thanks Leelee, I knew I could count on you!" She laughed as she hugged her back, "Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this?"


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry, I know this is late again, but it's a little bit longer and I've already started on the next chapter, so hopefully it will be up a little sooner. Thank you again to all of you for reading, and all of the favorites and follows. I do a little happy dance every time I open my email and get one of the notifications. A very special super thanks to all of you who have reviewed. I'm trying to get better at responding to everyone. I figure if you take the time to review, no matter how long or short, the least I can do is send you a personal thanks. Any who… On with the show…

Disclaimer: Still not mine, no matter how much begging I do…

The next morning Bella was up by 9. She started a pot of coffee and began digging through all of the kitchen cabinets and fridge looking for something that might be edible for her to cook for breakfast and anything useful in general. There wasn't much. "This is ridiculous, how does he even live like this? I should've known when he ordered all those pizzas last night. No wonder, there's _nothing_ here but beer, frozen fish, a bag of stale chips and two cans of pork and beans," she muttered to herself.

Charlie must've smelled the coffee or heard her banging around; he came into the kitchen a minute later. Bella crossed her arms and leaned against the counter in front of the coffee pot as she glared at him. He glanced up at her sheepishly and ran his hand across the back of his neck. "Morning Bells, thanks for making the coffee, and uh, sorry about there not really being anything else here. I've uh, been working a lot of long shifts here lately and just running across the street to the diner for lunch and dinner."

She rolled her eyes as she turned around and grabbed 2 mugs in one hand and the pot of coffee in the other. She brought them to the table and poured them both a cup. "Well I hope you like your coffee black dad, cause you don't even have milk or sugar to put in it. As for the food situation, I plan to fix that today. Leah and I were gonna go shopping today for the bon fire. I'll just have to get Noah to leave us the truck. After seeing this kitchen, I don't think everything I need to buy is gonna fit in Leah's car."

Charlie reached in his back pocket for his wallet and pulled out his bank card and handed it to her, "Here Bells, whatever you need to get, you just put it on here. You'll probably need to get some pots and pans, and maybe some more dishes and cups too. Sorry sweetheart. I meant to get all this stuff before you and Noah got here, but I've been working such long hours at the department and it just slipped my mind. Think you can forgive your old man?"

Bella huffed in exasperation. "I guess I can cut you some slack," she said with a grin as she hugged him. "Besides, this way I can pick everything out myself. Thanks dad, and don't worry, I won't buy anything too expensive."

He kissed her forehead before letting her go, "Don't worry honey, there's plenty in the account. I haven't had much to spend it on in the last few years with the exception of the occasional trip to visit you. You'll probably want to get some more sheets and stuff too since the only ones I had were 10 years old. I'll stop by the appliance store today while you're gone and see if I can't get a new fridge and stove too."

Bella's eyes bugged out, "Dad, you don't need to do that. What we've got will make due."

Charlie chuckled as he took a sip of his coffee. He winced before digging around in the drawer behind him and pulling out a little cup of creamer and two packs of sugar. "Like I said Bells, don't worry. I haven't had a reason to spend my money in a long time. With you and your brother here, we'll need the extra room in the refrigerator, and with as much as you like to bake, I figured I might splurge and get a double oven. I might even get a deep freeze to keep out back, that way I'll have plenty of room when Billy, Harry, and I go fishing."

Noah chose that moment to waltz in, "Were you guys talking about breakfast? I like fish, but I don't know about fish for breakfast. I was thinking more along the line of pancakes and waffles." He grabbed a mug and poured some coffee before looking around the kitchen, "Where's the milk and sugar?"

Bella and Charlie just laughed. Charlie grabbed the keys to his cruiser and his jacket off the peg on the wall. "We're out. Come on kids, we'll go to the diner for breakfast. I'll take the car and you two can follow me in the truck so you can head to the Rez afterwards. You might want to bring a few of the boys with you when you come back, that way we can get all your stuff unloaded and move the appliances."

Bella threw her jacket on and headed toward the door, "Sure dad. Oh, Noah, I almost forgot, when we get to Leah's can you leave us the truck and either borrow her car or run over to Sam's? We literally have no food, plates, or any of the baking pans I need for Thursday, so Lee and I are gonna need the room. I was thinking we might even run up to the Costco in Port Angeles so we can get most of the stuff in one stop."

Noah groaned, "Yeah, I guess, but that means we're gonna have to take the few boxes that are in the backseat and the stuff from the bed inside before we can go to breakfast so you'll have somewhere to put everything."

Now it was Bella's turn to groan, "Man, I forgot about that. Why didn't we remember that last night when we had like 10 people here to help us? Come on, let's hurry up and get this done, I'm starving." Both men just laughed as they followed her out the door.

It took about 30 minutes to get the boxes from the truck stacked in the living room. They could worry about getting them moved upstairs later. Charlie left to go save them a table while Noah backed the U-Haul trailer into the driveway and Bella locked up the house. She jumped into the truck while he finished unhooking the trailer and they headed off to get breakfast. They were surprised when they pulled in to see Billy there with Jake, Embry and Quil as well. Charlie had pushed another table up to theirs and had cups of coffee waiting on them.

They all talked about their plans for the day while they ate breakfast and agreed that Noah would ride back with Billy and the boys so that Bella could take the truck for she and Leah's shopping trip. Billy looked a little worried when Bella mentioned that they were going to ride over to Port Angeles, and she found it a little too much of a coincidence when she pulled up to Leah's house and saw Jared and his girlfriend climbing out of another truck.

"Hey Bells, I heard you guys were going on a shopping trip. This is my girlfriend Kim. I thought maybe ya'll could use some extra hands and space to carry everything. Noah said something about you guys going to Port Angeles to pick out new appliances for Charlie's house?"

Leah came out of the house then, followed by Seth, "Port Ange? Appliances? I thought we were just going to the Ateara store for groceries…"

Bella rolled her eyes, "That was before I went through the cupboards this morning and realized Dad literally has _nothing_. No pans, no food, he only has 2 plates and 4 or 5 cups. Dad said he was going to the appliance store to buy a new oven, refrigerator, and deep freeze. He gave me the debit card and told me to get new dishes, utensils, pots, pans, food, the works. Not to mention I need to get some new sheets & towels. When I went to bed last night I still had the same unicorn sheets on my bed from when I was 10."

Seth and Jared both snorted, "Unicorns Bells, really?" Seth laughed. She put him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "I don't wanna hear it Seth. I seem to remember someone having a bedroom covered in wolves."

Jared made a choking noise and Bella turned towards him. Kim looked slightly alarmed and rubbed his back, "Sorry, I think he swallowed a fly." She gave him a last pat on the back and walked towards Bella, "I'm Kim. Sorry about him, he just doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut."

Bella laughed and put her hand out to shake Kim's, "Trust me, I've known him almost my whole life, I'm used to it by now."

Leah laughed too and shook her head. "Ok folks; let's get this show on the road. I take it we're headed to Costco right? Or do you want to go to like Bed, Bath, and Beyond or something?"

Bella appeared to think it over for a minute. "Let's head to Bed, Bath, and Beyond first, then we can get all the food and stuff from Costco."

Jared pulled his phone out of his pocket, "Ok, sounds good, let me just call Sam and let him know I might be late getting back for patrol. I'll tell him about your dad getting those appliances too incase Noah didn't say anything. Maybe he or Paul can drop by the house to help Jake and the guys get all the heavy stuff moved."

"Thanks Jare, that's a good idea, we had to unload the truck this morning so that we could use it, but we just piled everything in the living room and left the U-Haul in the driveway. If you guys can help us unload that stuff too, that would be great. Oh, and I almost forgot, tell him to have them breakdown the twin beds in Noah's and my room. Both of us have new beds and mattresses in the U-Haul that mom and Phil bought us right before the move. We just had pizza last night, but I can get us all some Chinese food for dinner."

Jared nodded as he dialed and gave her a little smirk, "When did you turn into such a chatter box Bells? I don't think I've ever heard you say that much all at once, let alone in one breath." She sent him a death glare before climbing into the passenger side of Noah's truck and chucking Leah the keys. Kim laughed as she jumped into Jared's truck and he quickly filled Sam in. Once Seth hopped into the back seat they were on their way.

They were just pulling off the interstate and into Port Angeles when Bella's phone rang. She checked the caller ID, saw it was Noah¸ and answered it on speaker phone. "Hey, I thought you were playing video games with the guys. What's the matter, get tired of blowing stuff up?"

"_Ha ha, you're so funny. Sam told me you guys were getting stuff for our rooms and I figured between you, Leah, Jared and Seth; I'd probably end up with 'My Little Pony' sheets or something. Needless to say, that's just not going to work for me, so Paul and I are headed up there in Billy's old truck. Embry, Quil and Jake are gonna head over to the house and move the old appliances out of the kitchen and move our old beds up to the attic, then help dad when he gets back with the new stuff. We're about 30 minutes behind you guys."_

"And I suppose you want us to wait for you… Just what exactly do you expect us to do for 30 minutes while we're waiting on you?"

"Hey, I'm hungry, we could stop and get some food," Seth chimed in, sticking his head between the two front seats.

Leah rolled her eyes at him in the rearview mirror, "You're always hungry. I swear I don't know where you put it all. You eat all day, sit around and do nothing, and get skinnier, but heaven forbid I even look at a bag of potato chips and I swear my ass gains 5 pounds. It's bullshit."

Bella was trying not to giggle from the passenger seat while Noah and Paul cracked up on the other end.

"_Don't worry Leelee; I think your ass looks hot."_

Leah blushed a dark shade of red and Paul laughed even harder on the other end of the phone. Seth looked horrified and Bella stared at her phone as if she expected an alien to pop out. Leah finally seemed to have had enough as she snatched the phone out of Bella's hand. "Alright asshats, we're stopping at Taco Bell. You call Jared and tell him. You have 30 minutes, if you're not there, we're heading to the store without you, and make another comment like that and 'My Little Pony' will be the least of your problems."

She quickly disconnected the call and handed the phone back to Bella. Seth was still leaning in between the seats, "That was just wrong." He seemed to shudder at his thoughts, "I never want to imagine your ass ever again, now Bella's on the other hand…"

Leah took one hand off the wheel and smacked the side of head and Bella turned in her seat to shove him back into his. He laughed and held his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Jeez, no need to go postal on me."

The girls laughed as they pulled into the Taco Bell parking lot and Leah set a timer on her phone. Bella gave her a questioning look and she shrugged. "What? I told them they had 30 minutes. I wasn't kidding. When this alarm goes off, we're getting back in the truck and leaving, with or without them."

Jared and Kim joined them next to the truck a minute later and Jared clapped Seth on the back. "Good idea stopping for food man. I was getting hungry too and Kim didn't wanna let me get anything."

Kim rolled her eyes, "You just ate before we left. I swear all you ever think about is food."

"That's not true, sometimes I think about…"

Kim's eyes got huge and she clamped her hand over his mouth. "If you ever want to do more than think about it again, you'll keep the rest of that sentence to yourself."

Seth laughed as they all started across the parking lot, "I say Kim should ride home with Bella and Leah, have girl bonding or whatever and I'll ride home with you. I swear if I have to listen to much more pop music or hear another conversation about what actor was hotter in what movie, my brain is going to explode."

Jared shook his head and chuckled, "Yeah, that's fine with me, as long as the girls are ok with it."

The girls seemed to hold a silent conversation for a few minutes before Kim spoke up, "Sure, that's fine with us." The three of them turned in unison and walked into the restaurant.

Seth turned to Jared with a questioning look, "How do they do that? They didn't even say anything, and yet it was like they had this whole conversation that we weren't even part of."

He shrugged his shoulders and pulled the door open. "I have no idea man. It must be a chick thing..."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Once again I am blown away and so grateful for how many of you have followed and favorite this story, and even me as an author. It is a huge honor, and I can't thank you enough. A special thank you, as always, to everyone who left me a review. I hope I responded to you all, if not I'll try again this time, but know that all of you words and encouragements are appreciated. Now to plug some of my favorites: I just finished reading _tonyamic10_'s 'Revival" this morning, if you haven't read it you should, although it's not always light and fluffy. Then there is possibly my favorite fic ever… _Unseelie Sidhe_'s "The Devil You Know" it is definitely my favorite Paul story and will leave you panting for more from chapter to chapter. And now my dears, on with the new chapter…

Disclaimer: Everyone knows this by now, they're not mine. I just like to take them off the shelf and play with them.

True to her word, 30 minutes later when the alarm on her phone went off, Leah herded everyone back outside to the trucks. They were just getting in when Billy's red truck came squealing into the parking lot with Paul behind the wheel. He pulled in on the other side of Noah's truck and they both hopped out. "See, I told you we'd be here in 30 minutes," he called to Noah with a smirk firmly in place.

Bella and Leah shared an evil smile. "Actually Pauly, Leah's 30 minute alarm went off 5 minutes ago, you're late," she called over her shoulder before hopping into the truck.

"I suggest you losers run through the drive thru if you're hungry and meet us over at Bed, Bath & Beyond," Leah yelled from her window as she cranked the truck. "Seth, are you coming with us, or staying here with these two?"

Noah shrugged, "He can stay with us, we shouldn't be far behind you." Paul just rolled his eyes and got back in the truck, slamming the door. Bella chuckled and shook her head.

"See you guys in a little bit. If we're not still out front when you get there, just call me and I'll tell ya where we're at.," she called out the window, as Leah backed out.

Ten minutes later, Leah and Jared were parking in front of the store. As they got out, Jared slung his arm over Kim's shoulder and walked over to join Bella and Leah. "Did you see Paul's face when you told him he was late Bells?" Kim giggled next to him, "I think it was a combination of shock and righteous indignation."

Jared pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her waist. "He prides himself on being the fastest in the pac- uh the patrol group. Yeah, when we work out and run, he's usually the fastest."

Leah snorted as they started walking towards the store, "Didn't anyone tell him faster isn't always better?"

Jared started laughing so hard he was almost crying, as the girls just shook their heads. He suddenly stopped laughing and stood up straight. "Uh, maybe we should just go to Costco, skip this place."

Kim's eyes started darting around the parking lot and when she caught sight of a Volvo and Jeep parked next to each other, she gripped Jared's hand. "Yeah, maybe that's a good idea. They're probably out of a bunch of stuff from the after Christmas sale two days ago anyway."

Leah and Bella shared a perplexed look. "What's the matter with you two? I'm sure it'll be fine," Leah called as she took a step backwards towards the store.

Bella started to follow her. "Yeah, it's fine, besides, we already told the guys to meet us here. If you guys want to go ahead over to Costco though you can, we can just meet you there later."

Jared shook his head and plastered an uneasy smile on his face, "No, it's fine. Sam would kill me if I left you girls here alone."

Bella smirked, "What's the matter Jare Bear, afraid of going in the home store with the girls? Should we take you to the salon and get you a makeover afterwards?"

Kim started giggling and Jared gave her a mutinous look. "My own girlfriend turns against me. I see how it is," he pouted as he walked slowly to catch up. "See if I volunteer to go anywhere with you again."

She patted him on the back, "Don't worry babe, you don't have to suffer alone, the guys just pulled in."

Bella laughed and turned around to search the lot for them. She waved as she saw them getting out of the truck and walked straight into someone coming out of the store as she turned around. "Oh my god, I am so sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

She made to step back and felt an icy hand wrap around her wrist, "Bella?" Her head jerked up at the sound of the musical voice and her eyes got as big as saucers. She thought she heard Jared growl behind her as she took a step back and yanked her arm away. "Alice. What are you doing here?"

She could hear Noah, Paul and Seth running toward them, and Kim telling Jared that now was not the time, whatever that meant. She refocused on Alice and looked to see that Jasper was the only one with her. "Alice, I asked you a question. What in the hell are you doing here?" She was starting to get angry now as she thought back to the events from the last time she had seen them.

"I- we- I haven't been able to see you since James and Edw- I- I'm so sorry Bella. I didn't know," Alice stuttered.

Paul and Noah finally joined them, just as Edward, Emmett and Rosalie walked out of the store. Paul and Jared growled again and Bella gave an aggravated growl of her own. "Great, you're all here."

Edward looked stricken, "Bella?" He looked questioningly at Alice and then back to her.

Bella crossed her arms over her chest, "What's the matter Edward, feel like you've seen a ghost? Did you think after you damn near sucked me dry and left me in an alley, I'd be dead by now?"

He stepped forward, "You know that was never my intention! After what James did- the venom was spreading, I had to try and suck it back out, but by the time it was all out I could barely hear your heartbeat, and Alice said your future had gone blank. I thought it was too late."

Bella could feel her anger about to boil over and was struggling to keep a lid on it. She could hear Jared on the phone with Sam and Noah arguing with Paul to let her handle this herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, when she opened them Edward gasped and took a step back. She had a ring of gold, around her irises and they almost seemed to glow. She gave a low chuckle and took a step toward him, "Well I hate to burst your bubble, but no, I'm not dead and just so you know, I could feel the second you sucked the last of the venom out, but you continued to drink even after that. It wasn't until my heart started faltering that you stopped. Luckily I had called Noah when James first cornered me. He tracked my phone and got to me just after you took off. He took me to the hospital and gave me two pints of his own blood to save me until they could get some sent up from the blood bank."

Noah put his arm around her and pulled her back. She could feel his body shaking behind her and was surprised when she looked up and saw then golden color his own eyes had taken. His voice was almost a growl when he spoke through clenched teeth, "I suggest you get the hell out of here and don't come near my sister again." She could feel Paul and Jared come to flank him on either side behind them. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper were already backing away, only Edward and Alice remained.

Leah stepped forward from where she stood behind them. Bella watched as her eyes too flashed an eerie golden color. "Obviously you two have a hearing problem. I suggest you get the fuck out of here before Daddy dearest has to come collect you in a body bag."

"No wonder I couldn't see her. I can't see anything around these damn dogs," Alice huffed to herself. Seth apparently heard her though. He was shaking so hard it almost looked like he was having a seizure and he too had the eerie glowing eyes, "Who the hell are you calling dogs Bitch?" he snarled at her.

Bella grabbed one of his balled up fists and held his hand. "Easy Seth, I'm fine. Don't let them under your skin, ok? Let's just go," she said, turning to look at each of her friends. She noticed every one of them had glowing eyes except for Kim, but as they each turned to face her they faded back to normal. Kim didn't act as if it were anything out of normal, so she just filed it away as something to ask about later.

When she turned back to Alice and Edward they were both wearing a shocked expression. Bella rolled her eyes and sighed, "Look, I don't know why you're here, but just stay the hell away from us ok. I have nothing left to say to you." She grabbed Noah's arm with her other hand and pulled both he and Seth around a still motionless Edward and Alice.

The others soon followed suit, until Paul was the only one left standing in front of them. "You're lucky we're in public Sparkles. Don't think that Billy won't hear about this. Bella's dad is his best friend, and her brother Noah, is Sam's half-brother. Once they hear what you did to her, you can kiss the treaty goodbye," he snarled before pushing past them. He turned around when he was almost to the store entrance. "One more thing, if you even think about coming anywhere near Bella, hell if you even try to contact her, I'll personally cancel the treaty and set your asses of fire."

He spun around and stalked into the store where they could see Bella waiting for him. They both turned to give them one last stony look before Paul threw his arm around her and steered her out of sight.

Edward let out a breath he didn't need and turned to face Alice. "What the hell was that? I thought there were only three in the pack. Did you see all their eyes? Even Bella's had that odd glow, the taller Quileute girl too. I didn't know that women had the gene, and even then Bella's not Quileute! The only normal one was the shorter girl on the far end."

Alice was still staring blankly into space until Edward snapped his fingers in front of her. "Sorry, I don't know either, but we need to get home and tell Carlisle about this. I don't understand any of this. I should've been able to see her brother taking her to the hospital. Maybe he can smooth things over with the chief before they get back and tell him. Maybe he'll have some insight in to what happened."

Edward nodded his head. "Let's get out of here. The faster we can get there, the better."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: It's been way too long again, I know, and I haven't responded to any of my reviewers yet, but I promise, I'm off Wednesday, so I will respond to all of you then. In the meantime, thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the reviews, as well as all of the newcomers who have followed and favorited this story. I know these first few chapters have been mainly background info, and the next one probably will be too, but once everything gets out in the open, the action should pick up. Thank you all for sticking with me. Hope you enjoy…

Disclaimer: All rights still belong to someone else, but in my dreams, they're all mine…

Paul and Bella watched Alice and Edward head back to their car. Once it peeled out of the parking lot Paul squeezed her shoulder. "You wanna tell me how you know the leeches?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "Do you wanna tell me?"

He let out a huff as he dropped hi arm, "Alright, I'll let it go for now, but we do need to talk about it later. Sam will want to know the whole story."

Bella gave a laugh, "I bet he will. You just tell Sam that I'll tell when he does." She grabbed a cart and took off through the store, leaving Paul to follow in her wake. "Grab another cart if you're gonna follow me around. I'm not sure if the others grabbed one, and everything isn't going to fit in this one."

"Yes ma'am" he snarked.

Paul followed behind her and loaded anything heavy into his cart. They finally caught up to the others when they reached the bedding. Kim was pushing the cart with Noah's stuff loaded into it, and it looked like Leah had another with some small appliances.

Jared laughed when he saw Paul trailing behind Bella with the cart full of cast iron pans, stainless steel pots and various baking pans. "Well don't you just look like Betty Crocker."

Paul was about to retort when Bella beat him to it. "Careful Jare Bear, make fun of the man helping me by pushing the heavier cart, and I just might never feed you again."

He looked stricken, "You wouldn't…"

She arched a brow at him as she crossed her arms, "Wanna push me and find out?"

Kim giggled next to him while Leah and Seth tried not to laugh behind him. Noah clapped him on the back, "I wouldn't test her man. You know she has a mother hen complex and she's developed a wicked temper over the last year. She likes to get revenge and tends to hold grudges more than she used to."

Bella gave him a devilish grin and turned to the others. "I think we've got everything. Let's get the hell out of here."

When they made it to the register, the cashier's eyes grew as big as saucers when she realized they were all together. 20 minutes later and they were finally on their way back to the trucks.

By 4 o'clock they were finally done and pulling back into the driveway at Bella's house. From the looks of it everyone else was already there. Charlie's cruiser was parked in the driveway. Billy and Sam's trucks were parked at the curb across from the house. Noah backed his truck into the driveway and Jared and Paul followed suit backing the other two trucks into the front yard.

Charlie opened the door and let out a whistle. "Damn, did you kids leave anything on the shelves?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "It's not that bad…"

He hugged her when she reached the top of the steps. "I'll take your word for it. Jake and Embry got your bed's put together. Sam and I got the new appliances hooked up. I think most of the boxes have been moved to your rooms."

She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks dad. It sounds like you guys have been busy. Just let us get this stuff unloaded and I can make something for dinner."

"Don't worry about it Bells I already called the dinner. I was actually just about to run over there and grab our to go order. I got 3 dozen burgers and 10lbs of fries for you kids and steaks for Billy and I."

"Three dozen burgers and ten pounds of fries?! How many more people are you expecting?"

Charlie chuckled as he opened the door to the cruiser, "Have you not noticed how much these boys eat? Trust me Bells, it'll all get eaten."

Quil came bounding down the stairs just then, "Did I hear someone say burgers and fries?"

Charlie laughed as he got in the car, "I rest my case. I'll be back in a little bit with the food. Hopefully you'll be done unloading by the time I get back." He waved and gave the siren a squawk as he pulled out.

Bella rolled her eyes and turned back to the assembled group. "Ok, let's get this stuff inside so we can get warm people."

They managed to get everything inside before Charlie got back. After they ate, they split up in groups to get everything put away while Billy and Charlie watched the game on the new 60 inch flat screen TV that Sam had installed in the living room before he left. He came back around 10 o'clock as everyone else was leaving for the night. Leah and Seth were just leaving with Jared and Kim as he pulled up. He didn't miss Leah shooting him the bird from her window seat.

Noah greeted him with the universal 'bro-hug' and invited him in. "Hey man, I didn't think I'd see you again til tomorrow."

Sam rubbed over the back of his neck, "Yeah, sorry, but I kind of wanted to talk to you guys before the bonfire."

"Well kids, it's been a long day. I'm gonna head up to bed. I'll see ya in the morning." Charlie called from the livingroom on his way upstairs.

"Night dad!" Bella called after him before taking a seat at the kitchen table. "Look, if this is about what happened outside the store today, it was no big deal."

"No big deal?" Sam huffed as he sat down across from her. "You're kidding right? You don't pick a fight with a group of leeches in public and it's 'no big deal', so tell me what happened."

Bella started laughing, "Oh Sammy, if you want to know my secrets, you're gonna have to spill a few of your own."

Noah stared back and forth between the two of them with his brow furrowed, "Does somebody want to tell me what in the hell is going on?"

Sam turned to look at Noah, then back to Bella, with an almost shocked expression. "You mean he doesn't know, you haven't told him?"

Bella squirmed in her seat and shot Noah a nervous look, "Not exactly."

Noah sat down at the side of the table between the two of them. "Well I suggest that somebody starts explaining then, cause no one is getting up from this table until I know what the hell you two are talking about." They were both silently stared at each other, silently willing the other to go first. "Well, I'm waiting. Somebody better start talking."

Bella rolled her eyes at Sam and huffed before turning to her brother, "It's the Cullens."

When she didn't offer anything else he spoke up again, "What about them Bells?"

She squirmed in her seat before shooting Sam a nervous look. "They're um… look, I know this is going to sound crazy, and if I hadn't seen if myself I probably wouldn't believe it either. They uh, they're…"

"Vampires. What she's trying to say is the Cullens are vampires," Sam blurted.

Noah started laughing until he realized they were serious. "Oh come on. I know they're freaks, but Vampires?"

"Carlisle, his wife Esme, and their son Edward are the oldest. Jacob's grandfather Ephraim's tribe signed a treaty with them since they were animal drinkers, that as long as they stayed off of our land, they tribe would allow them to live and not divulge what they really were." Sam explained.

"So that night in the alley, is that what really happened? They attacked you?" Noah seethed, yellow stating to bleed into his eyes once more and his clenched fists starting to shake.

Sam was about to jump out of his seat and pull Noah outside, but Bella reached across the table and covered his shaking fists with her own hands , absentmindedly rubbing over his pulse points with her thumbs until the shaking subsided. "No, the Cullens never attacked me, not really anyway."

Noah let out a growl that had Sam about to jump out of his seat again, but Bella had it covered. "Quit growling at me or I'm not going to tell you anything." He closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths, when he reopened them, the yellow was gone and Bella smiled, completely missing the look of shock on Sam's face. "That's better. Ok so long story short, I met Edward and most of his family while I was volunteering at the hospital in Phoenix. They were originally only supposed to be in town for a week while Carlisle was speaking at a convention, but they decided to stay a little longer. I mostly hung out with Edward and Alice. I found out about what they were by accident. It was about a week before they were supposed to be leaving town. Alice invited me to their house for an early birthday dinner since they were going to be gone when my birthday rolled around the next month. I told her it was ridiculous, but she insisted. Everything was fine until after dinner when Alice brought out a couple presents. I got cut on a box staple trying to open a box with a new camera she had bought me. Her boyfriend Jasper is an empath, so as soon as I started bleeding, he got overloaded with all of their blood lust and made a grab at me. Luckily Edward and Emmett were able to restrain him and Carlisle took me to his home office to get me patched up. I had seen the way their faces changed, saw the fangs and the way their eyes turned pitch black. I accused them then and there of being vampires. Edward tried to deny it at first, but Alice told him it was fine, that she had a vision of them telling me and us all becoming better friends. She explained that just like Jasper was an empath, she was a 'seer' and Edward was a mind reader, but for some reason he couldn't read _my_ mind, which is why he liked being around me. She explained that they only drank animal blood, which is why the house they were living in was outside of town in a wooded area. Emmett brought Jasper back about an hour later and he told me how sorry he was. I still went home that night thinking that they were all a bit crazy, but they were moving soon, so I just went to bed and tried to forget about it. The night before they were supposed to leave town, Alice called and said that she and Edward wanted to meet me at a little café in town to see me before they left. I figured it was in public, so it was no big deal. We were just about to leave when the door chimed and two guys walked in, I knew they were trouble because Edward and Alice immediately tensed and the two guys made a bee line for us. Alice texted me under the table and told me to act like I needed to use the restroom and run out the back door. I did like she said, but James, one of the guys, had figured out the plan and was already waiting next to the back door as soon as I came out. I dialed Noah with the phone still in my pocket, but he could hear enough to know I was in trouble. Alice and Edward finally ran the other guy off and made it out back where I was. James had his arm squeezing my throat; when I tried to pull it away, he grabbed my arm and bit my wrist. Then he threw me at Edward and Alice and said not to worry, he'd be back to finish the job later. I can remember this feeling like being on fire, and kerosene burning in my veins. Then Edward was there sucking the venom out. Alice tried to get him to stop when he got the last of the venom, but I guess the taste of human blood was too much for him. Alice finally ripped him away, but by then I had lost so much blood that my heart was barely beating."

Noah's voice was gravelly, almost like he was choking on the words as he tried to speak, "I saw Alice's car peeling away from the curb when I pulled up. I'm me who could miss a bright yellow Porsche? I could hear the ambulance sirens coming from the end of the street, but I didn't see you at first. I just had this gut feeling to look in the alley next to the coffee shop, and there you were. You were unconscious, barely breathing and covered in bruises. Your skin was ice cold and so pale. I was scared to death that I was too late. When they got you in the ambulance and they realized how much blood you had lost, they immediately radioed the hospital and told them to have a few bags of blood ready when they got there. They were worried about having enough because you're O- and it's rare. Then you coded, so I told them we had the same blood type and to use me as a human blood bag til they could get you there. It was against policy, but I think they caved when I told them if they wouldn't help me, I'd do it myself."

Bella sniffled as she laughed and wiped the tears off her face before taking a deep breath and meeting Sam's gaze again. "That was the last time we saw them before today. I'm not sure what they were doing there, but I hope I never see them again."

Sam spoke up for the first time since she'd started her tale, "That might be a little difficult Bells, they live here in Forks…"


End file.
